Lisa Pershan November 13, 2015 A CONFUSING TERM seed A seed story A seed idea WORDS TO HELP STUDENTS THINK OF SEED STORIES I remembered
I wondered I thought What is your story really about? Learning a lesson Realizing something that changed your life WRITING ABOUT READING Most teachers across the US are doing this wrong! During reading workshop you dont want them writing essays on their post its or in their reading log. You dont want them to have a thought and
then give evidence. You DO want them to have thoughts like: on the other hand, in other words, this makes me think Then during writing about reading you can pull from some of those ideas. Kids can write a thought on a post it and then the kids can talk about their post its in small groups. Then it comes into a writing later. WRITING ABOUT READING EXAMPLE Wrote this post-it while reading.
Then expanded it on it during work on writing time. WHAT ARE WE DOING WELL? Settling behaviors Seed stories Getting students excited about writing Differentiated instruction Adding additional grammar to units Feedback comments
WOW! I like how you Give a look of positive encouragement and/or disappointment. Say things like How could you possibly waste our precious writing time? SOME REMINDERS FROM LUCY: WHAT IS A TEACHERS JOB? 1980/NCLB
Delivering facts Ensuring you were teaching Vocabulary
Fluency Phonics Phonemic Awareness Comprehension 2015/CCSS
Helping students synthesize information Making sense of all the information they are taking in daily Ensuring students are learning Over 50% is about writing Complex texts
Using evidence Building knowledge WHAT IS A WRITERS JOB? Help the reader become the place or be part of the place. Make the reader feel, to make them hear and most of all make them see.
EXPANDING STUDENTS WRITING I met my dad we had a coke and a hot dog my dad left. Using weather as a strategy Swinging when Mom called
Respect the writer Reading with feeling ADJECTIVES ARE NOT THE GOAL, DESCRIPTIONS ARE THE GOAL Do not add adjective, instead be more descriptive
I walked quietly ADJECTIVES ARE NOT THE GOAL, DESCRIPTIONS ARE THE GOAL Do not add adjective, instead be more descriptive I walked quietly I tiptoed
AN EXAMPLE The dead fish story IF A STUDENT SAYS: Im not a good reader I do not like reading Im not a good writer Do not say Do say You DO like writing,
I know you do not about things that like writing you enjoy writing You are a particular You really arent a good writing writer I hate writing too You like to write about specific
LUCYS EXPECTATIONS A block of writing daily. It is better to have an alternate block of writing by quarter than to have writing 2-3 times a week. Daily writing is BEST. 3rd grade students should be able to write a full page
5th grades should be able to write 2 pages A draft should take ONE DAY. Dream the dream of the story Stop and Jot WHAT KIND OF WRITING? Often students know they are writing a narrative but do not think about how it is different that writing an op-ed, opinion or recipe.
THINGS LUCY FEELS WE NEED TO RECONSIDER: GOALS The only way to get better at anything is to have deliberate goals and working on the deliberate goals. If you want students to get betterjust writing does not help. They need goals and instruction. Explicit instruction and working on goals.
WHAT IS ONE UNIT? 3 Writing Bends Bend 1: Writing as many seed stories as possible. Bend 2: Choosing your best work Bend 3: Refining your writing in preparation for the class celebration
4-5 weeks of teaching One session is one day! ONE SESSION INCLUDES: 1. Mini-lesson 2.
3. 4. 5. Explicit Teaching (Name the teaching point) Connection Teaching Conferencing 6.
Show one example. Let the kids do the rest. Keep the struggling kids with you for additional examples This is really the key to all of your instruction Sometimes (mid-workshop instruction) ONE SESSION INCLUDES: 1. 2. 3.
4. 5. 6. Mini-lesson The teaching point Connection Teaching Conferencing Sometimes (mid-workshop instruction) OUR UPCOMING WORK
THEN WHAT DO WE TEACH FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR?! The Units of Study includes 4 Units We need to make 3 other units patterned after The Units of Study Examples of units we can make: Historical Fiction Fairy Tales Writing about Reading Test Writing
Op-Ed Descriptive Essay Poetry Other ideas? WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT LUCY?! ADDITIONAL UNITS
All units do not need to take the same time Testing writing can be for 3 weeks Teach a week of small moments before starting a fiction unit Settling behaviors could be 4-5 weeks WHEN THINKING ABOUT HOW TO PACE EACH UNIT Self-talk:
I have about 5 weeks
Each unit starts with just writing and gathering entries in their writers notebook Ask myself: How many pieces of writing will the students do within 4-5 weeks? (kindergarten maybe 40 or even 400) 1st grade (2 days per story) 2nd grade (3 days per story) The older and more sophisticated the reader, the longer they take on each piece of writing. Students usually go through two writing cycles
Learning strategies Applying strategies OTHER SUGGESTIONS FROM LUCY Bi-weekly meetings Working together to find good models Your thoughts or questions?
